The ninth plague of darkness in Exodus 10:21-29 demonstrates God's judgment on the idolatrous gods of Egypt, particularly those associated with celestial bodies. This plague specifically targeted the sun, moon, and stars, which were central to Egyptian worship, by plunging the land into a palpable darkness for three days. While the Egyptians were plunged into this oppressive darkness, unable to move or see, the Israelites in Goshen experienced light in their dwellings, illustrating God's protective separation of His people. This event serves as a powerful reminder that believers are delivered from the kingdom of darkness into God's marvelous light through the redemptive work of Christ.
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Beloved radio, friends, we greet you in the ever-precious, and the altogether lovely name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. This is your Bible teacher of the air speaking, Mr. J.W. Bram Hall, giving you a hearty welcome to the continued ministry and our meditation from and upon the Word of God. We rejoice greatly in the holy privilege God gives to us to go into His precious word together with you, and seek to bring out eternal lessons for our blessing and our eternal prophet. We are continuing in the book of Exodus and considering, once again, the character of the world, as it is depicted by God's Holy Spirit by the way of illustration, in these events long ago, centuries ago, when in the land of Egypt.
God visited in divine judgment the gods of Egypt, the Pharaoh of Egypt, as well as the people of Egypt. We would repeat again, we have nothing more clearer in the word of God as a type of this present evil world in which you and I live in, a world that is under the dominion and the power and the authority of Satan. No greater type in the word of God do we have. than the very land of Egypt with its great worldwide power of that day long ago. I do humbly but earnestly pray that you will realize with me, my radio listener, the true character of the world under the dominion of sin and in the power of Satan.
We have reached today a plague that is the ninth plague that is called the plague of darkness. God visited very definitely in a variety of ways his judgments upon the land of Egypt long ago. We come to a plague of which we read in verses twenty-one through twenty-three, that the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven, And there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt.
Three days. They saw not one another. Neither rose any from his place. For three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Now this is but a brief record. But a complete one. Of the next judgment. The ninth plague of darkness. Now, may we repeat, for we do wish particularly to make it clear to our listeners, that God's visitation, as we have noted from chapter twelve, and I believe it is verse twelve, in chapter eleven, rather, in verse six of the book of Exodus, God says, I will visit judgment upon all the gods of Egypt.
And upon the gods of Egypt, God visited his divine judgment. Now may we make clear to our listeners that in the great pantheistic beliefs and practices in Egypt, the bodies in the heavenlies, the heavenly bodies of the celestial realm, were very widely worshipped. Now up to this time in the plagues that we have considered, no plague had dealt with this phase of Egyptian idolatry. though many other Egyptian gods had been visited and affected, but they were the gods that they had made from the objects, whether animal or otherwise, upon the earth.
But the ninth plague was given to obliterate the very sight of the hosts of heaven, the skies above, and the starry hosts, from the sight of their worshippers for three days, and probably to cause one of the chief religious ceremonies of the nation to be put to a stop. Now may we clearly tell to our listeners that in Egyptian worship and the pantheistic beliefs and practices they had then, they had specially Egyptian temples designed for the worship of the sun, for the worship of the moon, and for the worship of any special star.
Now these Egyptians were wise men, even in astrology and even in the wonders of the universe. But they were not worshippers of the living God. And they were worshipping, as we have suggested in the past, all the bodies of creation that God had made instead of worshipping the Creator Himself. Now one of the highest points in their ceremony in honoring the celestial gods or deities, as they personified those planets above, one of the highest points of the ceremony in honor of such occurred. At a given moment, when that particular heavenly body, a star to which the temper was orientated, cast its first bright being between a double row of sphinxes and obelisks through the great gateways and the inner entrances and their doors ran right into the narrowed recess at the extreme end of the building, where in the sanctuary the image of the God they worshiped in honor of this planet had been placed.
Now let me see if I can make it a little clearer. To the honor of this God, they had erected a temple. Before that temple, they had a double row of obelisks going down toward the temple, and it was always directed in its construction toward the planet which would appear at a certain given time according to the creation. And when the light of that star would shine right into the very place, the inner sanctuary, where the image of the God had been placed, and shine upon that God, at that moment they would indeed begin their worship.
They would have a stream of a great procession in honor of that deity. Crowds of priests, with their very vestments and officers, would pour forth. They would have incense bearers. They would have banner bearers. They would have others carrying sacred emblems. They would have some who were the supporters of the shrines. They would have musicians. They would have singers. They would have a throng of thousands. And all of it would combine to create a show of unrivaled religious pomp. Now, may I repeat again, it was an occasion at that very moment, which occurred rarely during the year, when the image shone brilliantly for maybe only for about two minutes, in the rays of the sun or even in the beams of the star.
And though all around in that temple was in deep shadow, and yet the shining of that image would be revealed as the sun or as a star would shine upon it at that given moment. And it was called by the Egyptians the manifestation of the God. Now this was the supreme moment, as we have suggested, for the celebration of their worship. In their sun worship, they had many different deities represented in the worship of the sun. At its rising and even at the setting of the sun, there was one God they called Horus. And in the light of the sun and the heat of the universe, they also raised another temple to the worship of a God they call Ra.
And then when the sun would set, they would have an honor to a God they would call Tom. Now it is very evident that in Earth's earliest history, idolatry arose, perhaps even first of all, out of the exaltation of the glories and the movements of the heavenly bodies. Even before the days of Israel, men of the world gave themselves to the studies of the stars. Astrology was indeed a great science in the days of even idolatry. This was known in the very kingdom of Babylon many centuries later. This was known even before the Egyptian pantheism began.
And in earth's earliest idolatry, the exaltation and the movements of the heavenly orbs above was one of the forms of worship that men followed. Now the very nation of Israel. Now let me be very clear to express. Even Israel, as you may read in the book of Ezekiel chapter eight, if you wish, as well as in chapter ten of Ezekiel, even Israel fell into the great sin of turning toward the east, meaning toward the sun, to worship the rising of the sun, and forfeited the glory cloud of God's presence which was in the temple or the tabernacle.
So God's judgment came upon the land of Egypt by the obliterating of the sun and all the heavenly arms, and bringing upon the whole land of Egypt a darkness. Writes the Spirit of God, as we have read it in chapter ten of the book of Exodus. It was a darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. Such was God's visitation. upon them in that day. And how we may recognize, for three days and three nights, God blotted out the host of the heavens above, from the sight of the worshippers upon the land, and it would stop, and it did stop without doubt, the temple ceremonies and worship.
For we may assume, and I believe convincingly, that at the time of the occurrence of this plague, and all the plagues, some grand ceremony in honor of their gods was about to take place. And on this occasion, with the plague of darkness, some grand ceremony in honor of the celestial bodies must have been about to begin. And so we may realize how true that is. But now please note this will be in verse twenty-three, ere we close. The depth of the darkness and the thickness of it was such they saw not one another. Neither arose any from its place for three days.
They couldn't find their way around. But please note this. All the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Do you remember that we read in a previous chapter that beginning, particularly with the fourth plague, God put a difference, a separation, a redemption. between his people and the people of Egypt. And in the land of Goshen there was no darkness. Now may I close in the moments we have left by stating this fact. When you and I are children of God, we are not in darkness. God has spiritually and positionally translated us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.
We must close with the admonition that we have repeated again and again. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us out of this present evil world. And the Lord Jesus on the cross died that he might deliver you, my radio friend, from the darkness of sin and bring you into his marvelous life. Oh, Father, bless the truth of thy word, we humbly pray. In Jesus' name, amen.